20101017 Britain dismisses US fears of deep defense cutbacks

Britain dismisses US fears of deep defense cutbacks

Reuters, BRUSSELS

British Foreign Secretary William Hague on Friday dismissed US concerns that cuts to London’s defense spending could undermine the NATO military alliance.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and US Defense Secretary Robert Gates had said on Thursday that Washington feared defense cuts planned by NATO members could go too far.

Britain will on Tuesday unveil a sweeping review of its armed forces, the first such assessment since 1998, and major cutbacks to defense spending are expected as the country tries to tackle a record budget deficit.

“Let me be clear, the United Kingdom will, in the context of NATO, remain a military power of the first rank,” Hague told reporters in Brussels.

“We will continue to have an independent nuclear deterrent, to have formidable intelligence agencies. NATO have flexible and highly deployable forces,” he added.

The government is trying to reduce a budget deficit of more than 10 percent of national output while securing Britain’s strong military presence in Europe and role as an ally to the US.

When asked whether she was worried about defense spending cuts by NATO members, the BBC reported Clinton as saying: “It does, and the reason it does is because I think we do have to have an alliance where there is a commitment to the common defense.”

Her comments echoed those of Gates, who on Thursday warned NATO members against a “hollowing out of alliance military capability.”

The Ministry of Defence budget of £36.9 billion (US$59 billion) is set to be slashed by up to 10 percent over four years, and the ministry already faces a deficit of £38 billion over 10 years according to earlier spending plans.

Britain is the second largest contingent in the 150,000-strong, mostly US, NATO force fighting Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan.

British Prime Minister David Cameron and Secretary of State for Defence Liam Fox have both said that funding for the UK’s 9,500 troops in the conflict would be ring-fenced.

Speaking in London on Friday, US General David Petraeus, commander of the NATO mission in Afghanistan, said he had received assurances from British officials that support for Afghanistan would be “ironclad.”